Washington D.C., Dec 19, 2019 / 00:03 am
As support for the death penalty decreases in the U.S., so does the number of inmates executed by the states, said a new report this week.
The non-profit Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) said in a Dec. 17 report that 22 state executions were carried out in 2019, three fewer than in 2018 and the second-lowest rate in nearly three decades.
According to the DPIC, this is the fifth year in a row that states have carried out fewer than 30 total executions, and fewer than 50 new sentences for the death penalty have been handed down. The organization said this drop has coincided with a decrease in public approval for capital punishment, and an increase in public advocacy against it.
A November poll from Gallup found that for the first time in more than three decades, a majority of Americans favor life imprisonment without parole over the death penalty as a punishment for murder.